SENDAI (FIBA World Championship) - Manu Ginobili led Argentina to an Olympic gold medal in Athens in the summer of 2004 - and was named the tournament's best player - before helping Tim Duncan and Tony Parker lead the San Antonio Spurs to their third NBA championship in June 2005.

HIROSHIMA (FIBA World Championship) - Germany's Dirk Nowitzki came into the 2006 FIBA World Championship as one of the biggest stars not from the United States. And no team in Japan relies so much on just one

SAPPORO (FIBA World Championship) - To be a great teacher in any profession, one first must be willing to learn.

HAMAMATSU (FIBA World Championship) - Forget the players who aren't here for Australia.

HAMAMATSU (FIBA World Championship) - Theo Papaloukas is the pride of Greece.

There are 13 heroes from the country's EuroBasket 2005 side - including coach Panagiotis Yannakis.

HAMAMATSU (FIBA World Championship) - Mohammed Saleem knows it. So does Qatar coach Joey Stiebing, and all of Hamamatsu.

HAMAMATSU (FIBA World Championship) - Brazil have won a lot of admirers the past two years and the play of big man Tiago Splitter has been a big reason why.